New web tool will link NJ enrollees to expanded Medicaid

A new web portal will be a crucial link to helping the state sign up more than 100,000 new Medicaid enrollees starting this fall, according to the state's top Medicaid official. Valerie Harr said the state will still rely on the welfare agencies in each county. But local officials will be able to use the portal to determine who is eligible for Medicaid, the health-insurance program for low-income residents that is funded by the federal and state governments. "The expectation is that eligibility will be determined in a much more rapid pace and that will be a way for us to get many more people enrolled in Medicaid and Family Care," said Harr, director of the state Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services.